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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26696047">Just a one night stand</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jepshe/pseuds/Jepshe'>Jepshe</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Song of Ice and Fire &amp; Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, One Night Stands</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:02:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,291</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26696047</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jepshe/pseuds/Jepshe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Should we talk about the fact that I told you a million times last night how wonderful I think you are?"<br/>As far as one night stands go, there is something decidedly different with this one compared to any of the ones Arya's had before. But she probably should have known better when she somehow ended up taking her old friend Gendry home after Sansa's bachelorette party. </p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Arya Stark/Gendry Waters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>161</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Just a one night stand</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>As I was avoiding writing all the WIPs I had promised myself I would focus on next, this little oneshot just demanded to be written. And after weeks of it just sitting there in my files I decided I might as well post it. So here goes!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Should we talk about the fact that I told you a million times last night how wonderful I think you are?"</p><p> </p><p>As far as one night stands go, there is something decidedly different with this one compared to any of the ones Arya's had before. Not that she's had too many, but enough to say there's a difference. </p><p> </p><p>For one thing, one night stands don't — in her experience — usually include intense staring into each other's eyes in moments not involving sex, or light, tender touches, soothing her as she falls asleep. And they have definitely never before included such adoring words spoken so many times by the other person involved. </p><p> </p><p>But she probably should have known better when she somehow ended up taking her old friend Gendry home after Sansa's bachelorette party. </p><p>
  <br/>
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</p><p>When she had noticed him there by the bar as they came into the pub last night she had been quick to volunteer as the one to get their first drinks. And Gendry had wasted no time in making it clear he was happy they had run into each other like that, smiling at her the entire time it took the bartender to make appropriate drinks for the whole group of young women. </p><p> </p><p>Gendry had told her he had come to see the game there because the bartender was a friend of his, and she got the idea he had been planning on going home early. </p><p> </p><p>"You can't be cruel enough to leave me here alone," she had told him and he had chuckled, his eyes turning to the half empty pint of beer he had in front of him before returning to hers in a way that made her mouth feel so dry she needed to take a sip of one of the drinks that had already been set in front of her.</p><p> </p><p>As she had sipped, she had watched him over the rim of her glass, taking note of his eyes never leaving hers.</p><p> </p><p>"I guess I can have another pint. I'm not a cruel person, after all," he had said.</p><p> </p><p>And so he had stayed. Arya hadn't kept count of his beers or the glasses of water he drank in between those, but it had certainly been more than one. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>"Please tell me you can fake a broken heart or something else that requires my attention for the rest of the night so I simply have to stay here and can't go back to that table there?" she had asked him the first time she returned to the bar.</p><p> </p><p>Arya's exaggerated tone had made Gendry raise his eyebrows as she had slid on the stool next to him and gestured to the table her sister's entourage had occupied. </p><p> </p><p>"I thought you and Sansa were getting along better these days?" </p><p> </p><p>"We are. But her friends are another thing." </p><p> </p><p>Gendry had smiled, nodding, catching the eye of the bartender. </p><p> </p><p>"I think the lady here needs a drink. Beer good?" </p><p> </p><p>"Please. I'm done with those fancy drinks they've forced on me all night."</p><p> </p><p>She had accepted the pint the guy behind the bar offered her and hadn't commented on the fact that she wasn't asked for a payment. </p><p> </p><p>"I think I might be offended that you don't think I'd be worthy of your full attention without having some sort of a crisis," Gendry had told her, although he hadn't actually looked too offended. </p><p> </p><p>"Well what do you suggest I tell those gossip yearning ladies there when they ask why I'm spending my time here?"</p><p> </p><p>"You could just tell them you can't resist the brilliant conversation."</p><p> </p><p>She had rolled her eyes and it had turned out she really didn’t need to make any excuses for Sansa or the rest of the group since all of them had taken one good look at her and Gendry and there had been no shortage of lifted eyebrows or suggestive comments.</p><p> </p><p>Arya had ended up spending most of the night sitting next to him by the bar or by the pool table beating a couple of strangers, partnered up with him.</p><p> </p><p>And that is what led her having this experience that was so different than any of the ones she had had before.</p><p>
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</p><p>No, the others had never called her wonderful and lovely and amazing — okay maybe that last one but she had a feeling they had meant it purely in the physical sense whereas she was pretty sure that was not what Gendry had meant. In fact, the only word Gendry had used to describe the way she looked was 'beautiful' and he hadn't really said that much about the physical side of things even though it was clear he had thoroughly enjoyed that part too.</p><p> </p><p>The way he moved above her and the way he held her tight when she moved on him. The way he looked at her just before he lowered his mouth on her and started to suck whle simultaneously pushing his fingers in her, forsing her to squeeze her eyes shut as the sensation took over her, and immediately after, when she was still trying to catch her breath and he brushed the hair out of her face or the way he whispered he hadn't been able to think about anyone or anything else from the second he saw her in that bar. It was all very different than with others she had been with for one night or more. And it all made it very, very clear that he liked all of it every bit as much as she did, if not more.</p><p> </p><p>She had thought it unusual but decided to not question it, only mentally thanking whoever or whatever it was that brought this pleasurable experience her way. You just happen to have a good one sometimes, right? </p><p>
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</p><p>But here he is now, in the morning, in her home, sitting on her couch next to her, coffee mug in one hand, looking through one of her books.</p><p> </p><p>"Would you mind terribly if I borrowed this?" he asks, raising his eyes from the book for a second.</p><p> </p><p>Now that is new, too. Borrowing stuff is another thing that has not been a part of her previous one night stands, not even those she's had with people she knew from before. But Gendry is a friend and they meet regularly enough — he would get the chance to give the book back so there is really no reason to say no. All of this goes quickly through her mind as she watches him.</p><p> </p><p>"Sure. I mean, go ahead."</p><p> </p><p>He puts the now empty coffee mug on the table but continues flipping through the pages and she gets back to her phone, or tries to at least even if she's not entirely sure she could tell anyone what she's seen or read this morning. If everything he said and did last night was new, this casual act this morning has been just as unfamiliar and unsettling.</p><p>
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</p><p>Nevertheless, that is the situation they find themselves in as he asks that question of his.</p><p> </p><p>"Should we talk about the fact that I told you a million times last night how wonderful I think you are?"</p><p> </p><p>And that is the thing — should they? </p><p> </p><p>Arya can think of many reasons they shouldn't, many of those ones that are clearly stated in that unwritten rule book of one night stands. Ones Arya has had no trouble abiding in the past, and luckily enough her previous partners have been playing by them as well. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Be polite in the morning but don't stay for too long.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Don't ask for any promises of more encounters.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Don't say anything too personal.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Don't talk about feelings.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Keep the conversation light.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>But everything in this situation and in Gendry's behaviour has been screaming from the beginning that this is not just another one night stand exactly like the rest of them and Arya is suddenly feeling desperate to hear what it is that he has to say, so she nods. </p><p> </p><p>"Maybe."</p><p> </p><p>She doesn't look at Gendry, can't force herself to meet his eyes, but she can feel him studying her and she can hear the way he puts the book down on the couch beside him and the deep breath he takes before he speaks. </p><p> </p><p>"You really are." </p><p> </p><p>It's only three words but they make her dizzy. </p><p> </p><p>He's been doing nothing but adoring her for the past, what is it, 14 hours or so, and it has left her in a state of mind that could only be described as a mess, and now this. It wasn't enough that he had locked his eyes with her last night and seemed to never take that gaze away from her after that. It was not enough that his hand had landed on her waist in a manner that one could very well claim spoke of possessiveness — and she had liked it, in fact it had made it hard not to drag him to the alley behind the pub right away. </p><p> </p><p>Yes, Arya had been the one to actually make the first move, but it didn't feel like it really counted for much at that point, not after all that not too subtle flirting and those shared gazes, or the way parts of their bodies had seemed to accidentally brush against each others for too many times to keep track of that night. </p><p> </p><p>So, telling him she was thinking of going home and asking if he'd like to join her hardly felt like a huge step, even if it did make her heart beat a little faster than normal. But the way he said yes, not wasting a second to think about it told her what she had already known, that none of it was purely accidental or just some friendly banter. </p><p> </p><p>And after that — well, Gendry had made sure she didn't need to question whether he wanted to be there. </p><p>
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</p><p>"You're beautiful," he had told her after he had lifted her dress over her head, eyes dark as he looked at her, his fingers sliding down her sides, sending shivers all over her.</p><p> </p><p>"No one can feel this perfect," he breathed out as she moved on top of him and he held her hips tight.</p><p> </p><p>"Gorgeous," he murmured as his lips trailed up her neck, his teeth nibbling at her earlobe.</p><p> </p><p>"Gods, you're brilliant," he laughed as he lied next to her, after the first round, his feet entangled with hers, and she had told some mindless joke about him being stupidly beefy.</p><p> </p><p>"You're just wonderful," he had whispered in her ear as he wrapped his arm around her middle, pulling her close to him when she was falling asleep.</p><p> </p><p>She had been left wordless from it all, feeling utterly cherished and adored in a way that was nothing like what she had experienced before. The weird thing was that he still somehow managed to sound genuine. From anyone else, she's sure, words like that would have sounded like empty flattering, way too corny for her liking. But coming from Gendry — mixed with the way he bantered with her, teased her throughout the night and wasn't afraid of standing his ground when they disagreed or trying his best to prove he was better than her at the pool table — there was nothing corny about the way he said those things to her and she was tempted to believe he meant all of it.</p><p>
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</p><p>But now he's sitting there, looking at her, waiting for her to say something — to tell him off, ask him to leave, say it was just drunk talk, something said in the heat of the moment, or — </p><p> </p><p>Or. </p><p> </p><p>She runs her fingers through her hair, pulling off the hair band she had put there, combing her hair with her fingers in another bun just as messy, finding she's not much better at sorting through her head than she is with her hair. </p><p> </p><p>She does know a few things though. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> He had said those things to her.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> She had liked him saying all those things to her.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> It had not felt like drunk talk. </em>
</p><p><em> She wouldn't mind hearing it all again. </em> </p><p> </p><p>Arya turns in her seat, sitting cross legged, her knees brushing the side of his leg. She places her hand on his thigh, letting her fingers stroke the fabric of his jeans, her other hand lifts up to trace the stubble on his jaw. He swallows, but stays quiet, still waiting. </p><p> </p><p>She raises herself to her knees, swinging one leg over his lap and lowering herself there, straddling him. </p><p> </p><p>"I think you're pretty wonderful yourself."</p><p> </p><p>The smile that takes over his face is somehow different than all the ones she saw in his face last night. Some tension she hadn’t even noticed before this moment seems to leave his body and suddenly his features are filled with some sort of soft openness as his arms move from her knees to circle around her.</p><p> </p><p>“You got any plans for today?” he asks her, still smiling.</p><p> </p><p>“Well…” </p><p> </p><p>She draws out the word, leaning closer, brushing her lips on his neck.</p><p> </p><p>His eyebrows are raised as she leans back up and meets his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>“I was thinking more along the lines of maybe taking you out to lunch.”</p><p> </p><p>“I could eat lunch,” she nods, her hands moving to his shoulders, steadying her as she inches her body closer to him. “Later,” she adds.</p><p> </p><p>“Later,” he repeats, his lips now close to hers.</p><p> </p><p>She closes the gap between them and his hands move lower on her body, pulling her by the hips tight against him.</p><p> </p><p>And yes, this is definitely different than any of her previous one night stands simply because there is clearly no chance of this not lasting much longer than that.</p>
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